This morning I was reflecting on the cycles of panic our society is constantly put through. It feels like just yesterday we were being bombarded with sickness and death — and while the sickness and death never stopped, the psychological siege moved on to nuclear war, culture war, and financial catastrophe. We are so much easier to control and direct when we’re mired in fear — it’s so much easier to convert us to a false savior when we’re desperate for contentment and we’re force-fed chaos. Donnie Doolittle captures the psychological process of fear and desperation to paranoia and sick salvation in his video for his brilliant single “This Wonderful World.” With an alluring sound that ranges from dark folk to post punk to gothic rock, he carries me through the self-sacrificing negative mindstate that so many of us have lived inside, regardless of what’s in the world around us. It’s a place that outside forces can take us, but only we can find our way out of. It’s off his upcoming self-titled album, Donnie Doolittle, which comes out on April 7th — pre-order it here. Right now, reflect on the depths you’ve explored over the past few years and ask yourself if you’ve shattered the illusion of your disempowerment yet.
In writing this video, I took my first crack at making a short psychological horror film, influenced by movies like Deep Red, Suspiria, and Mandy. As far as the song goes, I wrote the majority of it at the height of the 2020 quarantine, when the world was a especially frightening place. Like many, I temporarily lost myself. I was feeding into my own fear. I eventually snapped out of it, to become a better me. As a matter of course, these events happened within the confines of my home. All of this was the inspiration of the video’s story, which also exclusively takes place within my home, my world.
Donnie Doolittle
Written & Directed by Donnie Doolittle
Cinematography by Josh Rob Thomas & Jesse Clasen
Edited by Donnie Doolittle, Josh Rob Thomas, and Jesse Clasen
